Tenn. teachers stage prank with fake gunman

USA Today

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — If you're going to play a prank on a group of sixth-grade students, the last thing you want to do is warn them that a gunman is on the loose. This is sure to evoke deep-seated fears and prompt widespread panic in the wake of recent school shootings.

Yet that's exactly what a group of teachers decided to do last week during an overnight visit to a state park in Tennessee.

"The lead teacher told the students and other adults that there were people somewhere in the park shooting guns but they were not shooting people; they were driving around playing," Scales Elementary School says in a statement posted on its website. "He added that the Park Ranger had advised him to tell everyone to take cover as a precaution."